It is no secret that there are certain assumptions made about certain groups of people performing better academically than others. These assumptions are typically based upon differences such as race or gender. For example, each of us have probably heard the thought, at one point or another, that Asians are ‘better’ at math. Even in movies and TV shows, the Asian actors or actresses are almost always portrayed as the ‘nerdy’ kids.
When digging deeper into the history of these assumptions, the phenomenon knows as Stereotype Threat was discovered. Stereotype threat is the idea that describes the anxiety students experience when in situations where they fear conforming to negative stereotypes about their social groups, especially when those groups are believed to be academically inferior (APA, 2005). Social psychologists Claude Steel and Joshua Aronson examined the presence of stereotype threat during a study involving Black and White students’ performances on a short exam containing difficult GRE exam questions (APA, 2005). Steele and Aronson gave Black and White college students a half-hour test. The study included two conditions: the stereotype-threat condition in which the students were told that the test would diagnose intellectual ability, potentially revealing the assumption that Blacks are less intelligent than whites; and, the no-stereotype-threat condition, where the students were told that the test was a problem-solving lab task that mentioned nothing about ability (APA, 2005). Results showed that in the stereotype threat condition, Blacks, who were academically equal to Whites in the group based on SAT scores, did less well than Whites. In the non-stereotype threat condition, Blacks’ performance matched that of academically-equal Whites in the group (APA, 2005). An additional study found that when students merely recorded their race, this led to decreased performance in Blacks as well (APA, 2005).
This research revealed that negative stereotypes are raising doubts and inducing high-pressure anxieties in a test-taker’s mind, resulting in decreased performance despite their actual academic abilities (APA, 2005). Simply passing reminders that someone belongs to one group or another, such as recording one’s race before completing an exam, can detrimentally lower test performance as well (APA, 2005).
This research has given insight into the world of differing academic performance, and I find it extremely relevant with how much pressure is placed upon test-takers, especially for college entrance exams. Steele and Aronson have since admitted that the phenomenon of stereotype threat cannot entirely explain the gap in academic performance between certain groups, but it certainly shows that the differences are not merely due to cultural or genetic differences (APA, 2005).
References
American Psychological Association. (2005). Stereotype Threat Widens Achievement Gap. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/research/action/stereotype
Hello,
I think you did a great job with this blog post. It’s definitely relevant for students that are completing college entrance exams. Those exams in particular are already highly stressful and produce a lot of test anxiety, but it’s especially disappointing to read that people face these anxieties due to stereotypes. I’ve recently read a study that has a similar concept to stereotype threat. It was comparing nonverbal communication and interracial interaction in regards to interview performance, and it yielded similar results. It’s unfortunate that a psychological phenomenon such as stigma can have such a powerful and negative impact. I believe that measures should be taken to reduce stereotype threat in a testing situation so that it can reduce the achievement gap.
Referenced study:
Word, C. O., Zanna, M. P., & Cooper, J. (1974). The nonverbal mediation of self-fulfilling prophecies in interracial interaction. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 10(2), 109-120. doi:10.1016/0022-1031(74)90059-6